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Monday, September 13, 2010

I had the chance to sit down with my friend Bryan Person a little while ago and ambushed him with my Flip cam to answer one question about social media marketing.

He handled it without hesitation and had this advice about using facebook as a marketing channel.

I want to expand just a little on his point about consistency.

Consistent publishing is a challenge because it requires dedication after the 'honeymoon' phase of kicking off a new social media project. After you've gotten approval to launch a new channel, it's very exciting, and you want to prove that it's going to be effective. The motivation to produce content is high -- and because it's a high priority the time to produce it is easier to block out.

But once you've proved that it works, or you've built a decent community base, then other priorities start creeping back in. The channel becomes another project to manage among multiple priorities and it's easy rationalize scaling back on content creation.

What you should keep in mind is that content creation is a self-feeding cycle.

When you are producing, your community is going to remain more engaged. They will be more likely to add their own input, generate additional content, and share what you have created. You are then able to build on what the community is doing with more of your own content.

On the other hand, when you slow down your publishing schedule, the community expects less from you, they become less engaged. Your metrics start to dip, which may raise internal questions about the value to spending time on the channel. At it's extreme, this leads to abandoned pages, leaving a constant reminder that you've given up on it.

How can you maintain your publishing consistency?

1. Create an editorial calendar. Even if you just have a list of topics that you want to cover during the month, a sense of direction will help you stay motivated.

2. Read other people's work. The ability to comment on, or make a short post with a link, to news, entertainment, or other opinions can be an easy way to keep content flowing.

3. Cross-post from other channels. If you've got events happening, or are posting to other social media channels, find ways to re-use that content. It helps you extend your reach and reduces the volume of new content you have to produce.

I had the chance to sit down with my friend Bryan Person a little while ago and ambushed him with my Flip cam to answer one question about social media marketing.

He handled it without hesitation and had this advice about using facebook as a marketing channel.

I want to expand just a little on his point about consistency.

Consistent publishing is a challenge because it requires dedication after the 'honeymoon' phase of kicking off a new social media project. After you've gotten approval to launch a new channel, it's very exciting, and you want to prove that it's going to be effective. The motivation to produce content is high -- and because it's a high priority the time to produce it is easier to block out.

But once you've proved that it works, or you've built a decent community base, then other priorities start creeping back in. The channel becomes another project to manage among multiple priorities and it's easy rationalize scaling back on content creation.

What you should keep in mind is that content creation is a self-feeding cycle.

When you are producing, your community is going to remain more engaged. They will be more likely to add their own input, generate additional content, and share what you have created. You are then able to build on what the community is doing with more of your own content.

On the other hand, when you slow down your publishing schedule, the community expects less from you, they become less engaged. Your metrics start to dip, which may raise internal questions about the value to spending time on the channel. At it's extreme, this leads to abandoned pages, leaving a constant reminder that you've given up on it.

How can you maintain your publishing consistency?

1. Create an editorial calendar. Even if you just have a list of topics that you want to cover during the month, a sense of direction will help you stay motivated.

2. Read other people's work. The ability to comment on, or make a short post with a link, to news, entertainment, or other opinions can be an easy way to keep content flowing.

3. Cross-post from other channels. If you've got events happening, or are posting to other social media channels, find ways to re-use that content. It helps you extend your reach and reduces the volume of new content you have to produce.

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About Me

I am a marketer. The role of content as a marketing tool as increased with the rise of Internet search and social media. As audiences continue to fragment, companies will need to continue to focus on creating diverse content that can be published and shared broadly.